Science in the City, Malta’s national science and arts festival, returns to Valletta next Friday and Saturday (September 27-28) with activities, workshops and entertainment for children, teenagers and adults.

In Sala San Duminku, the programme includes five innovative and interactive performances brand new to Malta, during which audiences will delve deep into their brains, explore the world’s largest and most powerful machine, and hear music influenced by cellular space travellers. And you don’t need to be a scientist to enjoy the shows: whatever your background and interests, all you need to get involved is a touch of curiosity!

“We’re delighted to be bringing Braintastic! Science to Malta with their show Am I Normal?” Edward Duca, the festival director, says. “It celebrates how we’re all different and highlights that being different is OK: it’s normal!”

Our brains work in different ways just as our bodies do, and neurodiversity contributes to our uniqueness.

While exploring our differences, the founder of Braintastic! Science, Ginny Smith, will involve the audience in the creation of two pieces of artwork inspired by the brain.

“Ginny will be joined on stage by Natasha Padfield an engineering researcher at the University of Malta who was an intern for Science in the City earlier in her career. We involve scientists from the university in many of the events, and it’s great to welcome her back,” Duca adds.

“We’re also excited to welcome UK scientist and performer Sam Gregson to the stage. He is known as ‘The Bad Boy of Science’ and he’s bringing a fun, fast-paced and immersive show, Hunting the Higgs,” he continues.

Gregson conducts research at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland, where they smash atoms together to study the tiniest building blocks of the universe. He’ll be joined for Saturday’s performances by UM Professor Gianluca Valentino who worked for CERN previously.

The audience members are encouraged to become particle physicists themselves and together they discover a new particle with lots of jokes and games along the way.

Art is one way of seeing the world and science is another

“Then, we have Maltese performers from Ringroad Theatre company with a creative puppet show for the youngsters that’s also a forensic science experiment,” continues Duca.

“Developed in collaboration with geneticist and science communicator Emma Clarke, the show is called Ripped Genes, because we all love a bit of wordplay; and actors Sean Briffa and Marjann Attard, created the intriguing story of Eugene, an unlucky scientist whose DNA structure collapses into pieces during a lab accident as he tries to rebuild himself.”

Sean Briffa from Ringroad Theatre gives a sneak peak of his performance at this year’s Science in the City.

DNA, the building blocks of life, has also inspired a second performance, DNA Rhythms, during the festival.

“Jazz musician, Diccon Cooper, has interpreted DNA proteins from geneticist Joseph Borg, a biomedical space researcher, into music notes and used them to create methodical and mutated melodies,” Duca says.

“Art is one way of seeing the world and science is another. They provide different perspectives.

“Another festival performance, Boo Recaccia, highlights this power of human connection and support through rhythm, maths and movement. The dancers Cc Marmaritsaki and Marina Sasli will be performing a duet that incorporates their innovative methodology and celebrates co-development with people from diverse backgrounds.”

In addition to the performances at Sala San Duminku, Science in the City includes a two-day street festival where visitors can explore the thrilling physics and creativity of skateboarding, dive deep below the waves with Heritage Malta’s virtual reality footage of Malta’s wrecks, and channel their inner Padawan or Jedi Master with Betapsi (the Psychology Students Organisation at the University of Malta) to create a cultural mosaic. In line with this year’s Science in the City theme of J.E.D.I,: ‘Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion’, it really is a festival for everyone.

The festival is supported by the EU’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions of the Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme, Arts Council Malta, the Ministry for Education and other generous organisations. Visit scienceinthecity.org.mt for more details.